Sports report: Former heavyweight champ Norton, who beat Ali, dies

Thursday

Sep 19, 2013 at 12:01 AMSep 19, 2013 at 9:07 AM

Former heavyweight champion Ken Norton, who defeated Muhammad Ali and then lost a controversial decision to him in Yankee Stadium, died at a Las Vegas-area care facility, his son, Ken Jr., said. He was 70.

Boxing

Former heavyweight champ Norton, who beat Ali, dies

Former heavyweight champion Ken Norton, who defeated Muhammad Ali and then lost a controversial decision to him in Yankee Stadium, died at a Las Vegas-area care facility, his son, Ken Jr., said. He was 70.

Norton had been in poor health for the last several years after suffering a series of strokes, a friend of the fighter said.

Norton broke Ali’s jaw in their first bout, defeating him by split decision in 1973 in a nontitle fight in San Diego. They fought six months later, and Ali narrowly won a split decision. They met for a third time on Sept. 28, 1976, at Yankee Stadium and Ali narrowly won to keep his heavyweight title.

Norton would come back the next year to win a heavyweight title eliminator and was declared champion by the World Boxing Council. But on June 9, 1978, he lost a bruising 15-round fight to Larry Holmes in what many regard as one of boxing’s epic heavyweight bouts and would never be champion again.

Norton finished with a record of 42-7-1 and 33 knockouts.

• Veteran Nevada boxing judge C.J. Ross, who drew widespread criticism after scoring a weekend title fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Saul “Canelo” Alvarez a draw, is giving up her ringside job, at least temporarily.

Ross scored the junior-middleweight title fight a 114-114 draw on Saturday night, but Mayweather won a majority decision after two other judges scored Mayweather the clear winner.

Ross also drew attention as one of two judges who scored Timothy Bradley the winner in a controversial split-decision welterweight title bout over Manny Pacquiao in June 2012 in Las Vegas.

Sailing

Kiwis on precipice of clinching America’s Cup

The America’s Cup is staying in America for at least one more day because the wind that blows in through the Golden Gate Bridge and the strong tide that flows out to sea.

Not long after Emirates Team New Zealand won Race 11 yesterday to move a victory away from taking the America’s Cup from powerhouse Oracle Team USA, Race 12 was postponed that afternoon because the wind exceeded the safety limit.

Race 12 was scrubbed just 30 seconds before the high-performance, 72-foot catamarans crossed the starting line.

Organizers will try again today to get in two races, if necessary. The Kiwis, who lead the best-of-17 series 8-1, last hoisted the Auld Mug in victory in 2000.

College football

Nebraska officials put Pelini matter to rest

University of Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman and athletic director Shawn Eichorst said in a joint statement yesterday that they believe coach Bo Pelini was sincere in his apology for what he said in an audio leaked to the Deadspin.com sports website this week.

There was no mention of any disciplinary action taken against Pelini.

The statement said former athletic director Tom Osborne was aware of the recording more than a year ago and addressed the matter with Pelini at the time. Perlman and Eichorst declined interview requests. Messages were left for Pelini and Osborne.

Elsewhere

American wins second world title in wrestling

American Jordan Burroughs earned another wrestling world title in Budapest, Hungary. Burroughs, a gold medalist at the 2012 Olympics, extended his undefeated streak to 65 matches with a 4-0 victory over Iran’s Ezzatollah Akbarizarinkolaei in the 163-pound category at the Laszlo Papp Sports Arena.

Burroughs, who won two NCAA championships at Nebraska, was defending the title he earned in Istanbul in 2011.

• Lionel Messi scored a hat trick as host Barcelona opened its Champions League campaign with a 4-0 victory over Ajax. It was a different story for Jose Mourinho, though, as Chelsea made a losing start for the first time as Basel came from behind to win 2-1 in London. Last season’s runner-up, Borussia Dortmund, also had a bad night, losing 2-1 at Napoli with coach Juergen Klopp and goalkeeper Roman Weidenfeller getting ejected.

— Staff and wire reports

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